diff --git a/internal/ingress/annotations/annotations.go b/internal/ingress/annotations/annotations.go
index d6772b169..0f10c3981 100644
--- a/internal/ingress/annotations/annotations.go
+++ b/internal/ingress/annotations/annotations.go
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ type Ingress struct {
 	CorsConfig           cors.Config
 	CustomHTTPErrors     []int
 	DefaultBackend       *apiv1.Service
-	Denied               error
+	//TODO: Change this back into an error when https://github.com/imdario/mergo/issues/100 is resolved
+	Denied               string
 	ExternalAuth         authreq.Config
 	HTTP2PushPreload     bool
 	Proxy                proxy.Config
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ func (e Extractor) Extract(ing *extensions.Ingress) *Ingress {
 
 			_, alreadyDenied := data[DeniedKeyName]
 			if !alreadyDenied {
-				data[DeniedKeyName] = err
+				data[DeniedKeyName] = err.Error()
 				klog.Errorf("error reading %v annotation in Ingress %v/%v: %v", name, ing.GetNamespace(), ing.GetName(), err)
 				continue
 			}
diff --git a/internal/ingress/controller/template/template.go b/internal/ingress/controller/template/template.go
index 427a9a1c8..d04ff7ed7 100644
--- a/internal/ingress/controller/template/template.go
+++ b/internal/ingress/controller/template/template.go
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ func isLocationAllowed(input interface{}) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 
-	return loc.Denied == nil
+	return loc.Denied == ""
 }
 
 var (
diff --git a/internal/ingress/types.go b/internal/ingress/types.go
index f4773131b..7872c0c57 100644
--- a/internal/ingress/types.go
+++ b/internal/ingress/types.go
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ type Location struct {
 	BasicDigestAuth auth.Config `json:"basicDigestAuth,omitempty"`
 	// Denied returns an error when this location cannot not be allowed
 	// Requesting a denied location should return HTTP code 403.
-	Denied error `json:"denied,omitempty"`
+	Denied string `json:"denied,omitempty"`
 	// CorsConfig returns the Cors Configuration for the ingress rule
 	// +optional
 	CorsConfig cors.Config `json:"corsConfig,omitempty"`